Ziad H. Shehadeh¹ and J. Orzeszko²
1 Fishery Resources Division
² Policy and Planning Division

Information on grants and loans for aquaculture research and development is maintained within the Fisheries Project Information System (FIPIS) by FAO from data supplied by donor agencies. In FIPIS, funds committed to projects are allocated entirely to the year in which the projects became operational. Therefore, data presented here for each year refer to the number of projects commenced that year and the total funds committed to these projects. The following is an analysis of current information in the system. Some data returns from donors are incomplete for 1995, so the analysis should be considered provisional. Total official aid to aquaculture research and development in 1988-95 was about US $ 995 million, expressed in current value terms, and represented about 28 % of the total committed to the aquaculture and

fisheries sectors (US $ 3.6 billion). The average annual input was about US $ 124 million per year, from an average annual input of US $ 446 million for both sectors. With the exception of two years (1991 & 1993) annual inputs during the period (funding for new aquaculture projects) were fairly steady with a range of US $ 120 - 188 million.This is also true of the sector's share of total funding, which has ranged from 25 - 40 %; the maximum value being the result of a sharp drop in funding for capture fisheries in 1995 (Figure 1).

About 578 projects were initiated during the period, accounting for 26 % of the total number of projects in fisheries and aquaculture. An additional 54 projects with aquaculture components were also initiated during the period. The number of fisheries and aquaculture projects commenced annually declined gradually over the eight-year period from 379 in 1988 to 132 in 1995, and from 265 to 111 in the case of aquaculture projects.

Development banks were consistently the main source of external funding for aquaculture during 1988 - 95 (Figure 2). They accounted for 69 % of the funding and 40 % of the projects, while bilateral sources contributed 17 % of funding an accounted for 6 % of projects. Multilateral sources contributed 34 % of projects and 7 % of funding. Projects executed by FAO, which were supported by the FAO Technical Co-operation Programme, Trust Funds and the United Nations Development Programme, amounted to 5 % of funding and supported 18 % of projects initiated in the period. A further 2 % of projects came from other UN agencies (2 % of funding). In 1994, the last year for which complete data is available, the banks and

Figure 2. Aid to aquaculture by donor, 1988-95

Figure 3. External aid to aquaculture by region 1988-95

bilateral agencies accounted for 91 % of funding (74 and 17% respectively). Data so far available for 1995 show increasing dominance of funding by the development banks (92 %) with the meagre balance contributed by bilateral (3 %) and multilateral (5 %) sources.

The Asian and African regions consistently received the greatest measure of support with regard to the number of projects commenced and the funds allocated (Figure 3). Of the total number of projects reported to FIPIS for the period 1988 - 1989, the Asian region accounted for 65 % of commitments and 38 % of the projects, while African countries were the recipients of 16 % of commitments and about a quarter of the projects. Of the remaining regions, only Latin America commanded a substantial part of aid, with about 14 % of funds and 17 % of projects.

Interestingly, average annual aid to Oceania ( US$ 1.5 million) was higher than that to the Near East & Mediterranean (US$ 1.3 million), the Caribbean & Atlantic ( US$ 0.6 million), and Europe (US$ 0.2 million). Assistance through global and inter-regional projects accounted for 2.3 % of aggregate funding for the period, and 10 % of projects.

The major beneficiaries of aquaculture aid during 1988 - 95 (i.e. countries receiving at least 1% of total aid) are shown in Figure 4. India, China, Bangladesh and Mexico, which have received major loans from development banks during the period, accounted for about 64 % (about US$ 638 million) of external aid to aquaculture.

The two notable trends in external assistance to aquaculture, as seen from FIPIS data, are the continuing dominance of development banks and the decrease in commitments of aid to aquaculture in Asia (Figure 5 ).

Figure 4. Main beneficiaries of external aid to aquaculture, 1988-95

Figure 5. External assistance to aquaculture in Asia, 1988-95